BioNTech and Fosun to supply 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to China

German company BioNTech and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Fosun Pharma) have entered into an agreement to supply initially 100 million doses of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162, to Mainland China next year.

BNT162 is co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. In March, Fosun Pharmaceutical entered into a collaboration with BioNTech to develop and market the vaccine in China.

Pfizer is not involved in the latest agreement, Bloomberg reported.

Fosun will make an advance payment of €250m ($300m) for 50 million doses.

BioNTech will deliver the initial supply from its production facilities in Germany.

BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin said: “We would like to thank the Chinese government and National Medical Products Administration for their commitment and trust in our vaccine development efforts to help address this global pandemic threat.

“This joint development effort with Fosun Pharma is a testament to the importance of global cooperation and reflects our strategy to supply our vaccine globally.”

In November, BioNTech and Fosun Pharma started a Phase II clinical trial of BNT162b2 in Jiangsu Province, China, to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate.

The trial enrolled 960 healthy subjects aged between 18 and 85 years and could support future Biologic License Application (BLA) in China.

In a separate development, CNN reported that an Alaska healthcare worker suffered an allergic reaction to Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine.

This is the first case of an allergic reaction to the vaccine reported in the US.

CNN quoted Alaska chief medical officer Dr Anne Zink as saying: “We expected that a side effect like this could occur after reports of anaphylaxis were made in England after people there received the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

“All sites that are approved to provide vaccinations in Alaska must have medications on hand to deal with an allergic reaction and that was the case in Juneau.”

Last week, the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advised individuals with a history of anaphylaxis to medicine or food to not receive the vaccine.

Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the emergency use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine against Covid-19 in individuals aged 16 years and above in the country.